Sourdough for Dummies

swisscheese

Thu, May 23 2024, 10:42 pm

I really want to start making sourdough. what do I need to know?
How do I make starter?
what supplies do I need

realsilver

Thu, May 23 2024, 10:48 pm

It's a little too long to post a full response here!
First if all, get starter from a friend or buy some.
After that. Watch some you tube videos- seeing it is better. read up about it till you feel comfortable starting and then come back here for your questions.

Comptroller

Fri, May 24 2024, 12:30 am

swisscheese wrote:

I really want to start making sourdough. what do I need to know?
How do I make starter?
what supplies do I need

Best flour to start is wholemeal rye flour.

You do not need supplies, except a jar with a wide rim so that you can reach in and take the starter out and a towel/piece of cloth to cover it.

Sourdough are bacteria. Desinfectant, too much heat (over 40°C, think "yad soledet ba") will kill them, they don't like salt (so put salt in your bread, but not in your starter). They thrive around 24°C.

The quantity of bacteria in general doubles in around a day, 12 hours if it's warm, 24 hours if it's cold, more than that in the fridge.

So the idea is that you have to feed them, so that they don't run out of food when they multiply.

Start with a spoon of flour and a spoon of water. Leave on counter. Double the next day (1 spoon of flour, 1 spoon of water). Double the next day (2 spoons of flour, 2 spoons of water). Now it starts to be a bit much, so rather than just doubling again, you can take away half and feed with the same quantity as the previous day.

With the sourdough you discard you can either make patties (sauté in hot oil just as it is, like pancakes) or crakers (mix with more flour and water let rest a bit, roll out thin, bake in oven), or you can just add it to your challos dough.

After 3-5 days, you are ready to bake (if you took wholemeal rye flour), continue feeding daily for about 10 days, from then on you can keep it in your fridge and feed once a week or every time you bake.

If someone can give you starter, take it. However I would not recommend to buy it, especially when the prices are excessive. Where I live you can buy flour and sourdough starte for the price of the flour, more or less. More than 1 or 2 $ is definitely overpriced for starter.

On youtube, you find many guides of how to make starter and how to bake with sourdough.

Rappel

Fri, May 24 2024, 12:33 am

Get a scale. Measure water and flour by weight.

Use any flour, but stick to one type for feeding your starter. You can use any flour for the actual bread making.

Hatzlacha!

Comptroller

Fri, May 24 2024, 12:36 am

Rappel wrote:

Get a scale. Measure water and flour by weight.

Use any flour, but stick to one type for feeding your starter. You can use any flour for the actual bread making.

Hatzlacha!

I don't think a scale is necessary, specially not for the starter. You can do it by volume. Actually I always use scales for baking, but not for sourdough.

pause

Fri, May 24 2024, 12:39 am

I found it best to speak to someone who's been making sourdough for awhile who can guide you through the process. Then I watched some videos to understand what she explained over the phone because some things you just gotta see.

To start you need a scale and some starter from someone who has. That's it. After you do it a couple of times, you'll see which specific tools can be more helpful or even if you want to do this long-term that it's worthwhile investing in special tools.

ganmama

Fri, May 24 2024, 1:10 am

https://www.theclevercarrot.co.....uide/

I find this (and really all of her sourdough recipes) very helpful!

swisscheese

Tue, May 28 2024, 9:02 pm

thank you so much.

does anyone have a link to a reasonably priced dutch oven? not looking to spend more than 30. unless im being unreasonable.

shoshana2

Tue, May 28 2024, 9:20 pm

I have a Lodge 6 quart dutch oven from Walmart. It makes delicious sourdough bread.

shoshana2

Tue, May 28 2024, 9:20 pm

Lodge dutch oven price $47

pause

Tue, May 28 2024, 9:45 pm

swisscheese wrote:

thank you so much.

does anyone have a link to a reasonably priced dutch oven? not looking to spend more than 30. unless im being unreasonable.

You can use a stainless steel pot (like farberware) lined with parchment paper. I don't think it's worth investing in supplies before you get the hang of it and know you want to do it often.

shoshana2

Tue, May 28 2024, 10:06 pm

A farberware pot will not withstand the heat you need to bake sourdough bread-500 degrees

shoshana2

Tue, May 28 2024, 10:07 pm

Possible to use a pyrex dish with cover from before 1997